Hurricane Sandy: Power outages in Mercer County towns

Power outages have begun in several towns in the Mercer County region. A truck crosses over the Trenton-Morrisville bridge on the morning of Monday, October 29, 2012. A railroad bridge is in the foreground. NJ Transit and Amtrak northeast corridor service are suspended due to the arrival of Hurricane Sandy.Michael Mancuso/The Times

MERCER COUNTY — Hurricane Sandy's projected landfall in the New Jersey region is still hours away, but power outages have already begun in the Mercer County area as winds and rain escalate.

Roughly 3,000 homes in Mercer, Burlington, Gloucester and Camden counties lost power as of this morning.

The power company did not have town-by-town breakdowns of the outages, but at least one-third of the homes without power are located in Gloucester County. No pre-emptive or rolling blackouts are planned yet, Esposito said.

As of 11 a.m., the National Hurricane Center reported Hurricane Sandy was about 205 miles southeast of Atlantic City. The center of the massive storm is expected to make landfall along the southern New Jersey coast sometime this evening, bringing punishing gale-force winds, storm surges and the possibility of widespread flooding. Maximum sustained winds from the hurricane have actually strengthened, nearing 90 miles per hour.

By this morning, there are just over 100 Jersey Central Power and Light customers without power in Mercer County, including 28 homes in East Windsor, according to reports from the utility’s website this morning.

“It is pretty minor right now,” Chris Eck, a spokesman for JCP&L said.

The power company has brought in a number of additional crews including, 1,200 extra linemen and 1,200 extra foresters from as far away as Iowa and Ohio, Eck said.

Eck said the company has sandbagged power substations in low-lying, flood prone areas to protect them from severe damage.

In the event of high winds the utility will not send employees up in bucket trucks to fix lines because it is not safe, he said. JCP&L is asking customers to be prepared for blackouts that may last for more than a week in some cases.

Lambertville Office of Emergency Management officials said they were told JCP&L will not shut down power unless fire and police responders request it. The riverfront town's electricity has been shut down in the past to prevent fires and other dangers resulting from flooded basements or downed wires.

Lambertville set up three charging stations where residents can charge cell phones, batteries and breathing equipment in case of outages. Those stations are located at City Hall on York Street, Hibernia Apartments on South Main Street and Lambertville-New Hope Ambulance & Rescue Squad on Alexander Avenue.

United Water announced yesterday that they are preparing to handle large amounts of rainwater entering wastewater treatment plants it operates in the area.

In Plainsboro, where United Water Princeton Meadows treats wastewater for more than 15,000 people, the company is monitoring the water, has an adequate supply of treatment chemicals and is testing backup generators.

“Our goal is to provide uninterrupted service and respond as quickly to any emergency situations which may occur,” Rich Pfleiderer, director of operations, said.

In Lambertville, where United Water-New Jersey operates the Lambertville Dam, spokesman Steve Goudsmith said the company has personnel on site monitoring the water levels throughout the duration of the storm.